Are you struggling with the loss of a loved one and subsequent loneliness, hopelessness or depression?
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The GriefShare program offers professional help and support to assist you in overcoming these struggles, giving you hope and purpose for the future.
During the last two years of COVID, loneliness and depression have been on the rise. The loss of a loved one, sometimes coupled with the inability to say goodbye or celebrate their lives, has intensified those feelings.
A local GriefShare recovery and support group program is starting on Wednesday, March 16, at 7 pm at Bethel Church, 269 Quarter Town Line in Tillsonburg. It will run for 13 weeks offering insight, helpful information and concepts for healing and support. There is no cost to register for the weekly program – the only charge is $25 for your personal workbook, which you will keep.
All Covid protocols will be followed.
You can register or receive further information at www.bethelpc.ca/grievanceshare or call Susan Fraser at 519-758-6728. It is open to anyone in the Oxford-Norfolk-Elgin area.
The GriefShare program features a video series with psychologists, psychiatrists and grievance counselors who offer practical insights, information and support to help people through their journey of grievance. Each session begins with an introductory fun ice-breaker, and there are group discussions following the videos.
“You never forget your loved one, but the pain dissipates and you learn how to move forward,” said Fraser, one of three local team leaders.
“Our helpful and caring facilitators lead the group support and discussion group. This important component allows our participants to share what they are experiencing, how they feel, and what information they find helpful. One of the benefits of GriefShare has been the number of new friendships that have evolved and last far beyond the program. The personal workbooks allow each person to process the information received, digest it, and apply it to their lives. There are also words of encouragement for each day.”
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Al Peardon, who participated in the last two GriefShare programs in Tillsonburg, is now a local team leader.
“There’s been a number of grievances in my family,” said Peardon, and knowing ‘grief will knock on the door,’ he wanted to learn how to deal with that.
“Once I started with the group, it really spoke to me. I have developed a real love for the people that come. You get kind of a personal attachment, it’s almost like you’ve known them for years.”
“That’s true,” nodded Donna Charters, the third local team leader.
“There’s a bonding that occurs,” said Fraser.
Charters attended two GriefShare programs years ago hosted by First Baptist Church when her husband, brother and sister-in-law passed away within a short span of time. This GriefShare program will be her fourth as a facilitator.
“I found it very beneficial,” said Charters. “The people you meet, they are where you are in life, in that situation. It was overwhelming for me to have three family losses, and of course most of all your husband, but I’m so glad I was able to go to GriefShare.”
“One of the ladies who returned a second time – you can return more than once – she made friends with three of the other ladies,” said Fraser. “And they are meeting each other, phoning each other, going for lunch. They made new friends and I think that is a really important aspect.”
“It’s very different when you’re not part of a couple any more,” said Charters. “You don’t forget your old friendships, but life is very different for you and you have to make the changes that are going to be positive in your life.”
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There are at least three major benefits going through the 13-week program, said Fraser.
“The first one is that you’re going through about 30 emotions, and they’re popping up at any time, so you are very emotional. You learn through GriefShare that during the first few stages, you’re normal, that everyone else is the same way. You’ve found a group that totally understands and you can really share how you are feeling.”
“We go through a lot of anger through the grieving process,” said Charters. “It’s normal, it’s part of the healing. And the other feelings that you have – you feel abandoned, you feel lonely, but going through this program, it really opens your eyes.”
“You tend to wonder why,” said Peardon. “Why it happened and what could I have done to prevent it from happening. You beat yourself up because you didn’t do what you think you ‘should have done’ or thought you ‘could have done.’ But when it comes down to the truth of it all, there’s nothing you could have done.”
“I think what this program does is it brings them freedom,” said Fraser, “from all of these hurts and pains, and freedom from the guilt and the anger.”
“They feel a weight lift,” said Charters.
“They realize they’re not the only ones,” said Peardon. “The sharing part that goes on is very eye-opening to a lot of people, seeing someone else going through ‘what I’m going through.’ They are able to relate to each other and realize, ‘I’m not unique.’”
There are more than 15,000 GriefShare recovery support groups around the world. They are biblically-based, but non-denominational. Any belief system (or no belief system) is welcome.
GriefShare has proven to be successful in bringing healing, said Fraser, and helping hurting people move forward with hope and purpose for their future.
“They do a great job with the program,” said Ryan Hutchins, Pastor at Bethel Pentecostal Church in Tillsonburg. “I come and say ‘hi’ to everybody from time to time but they take it and run with it, and it’s been a great opportunity for people from wherever they are in their grievance to come and get help. And these people just love to care for them – that’s an important part of overcoming grievance.”